Edric Baker (also bn, text=ডাক্তার ভাই, translit=Daktar Bhai, translation=Doctor Brother; 19411 September 2015) was a New Zealand

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

Personal life

In 1941, Baker was born in New Zealand to a wealthy,

noble A noble is a member of the nobility. Noble may also refer to: Places Antarctica * Noble Glacier, King George Island * Noble Nunatak, Marie Byrd Land * Noble Peak, Wiencke Island * Noble Rocks, Graham Land Australia * Noble Island, Great B ...

family of

Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. He was a lifelong bachelor. In 2011, Hanif Sanket of Bangladesh Television produced a documentary about Baker and his medical work in

Madhupur Upazila Madhupur ( bn, মধুপুর) is an upazila of Tangail District in the Division of Dhaka, Bangladesh. Geography Madhupur is located at . It has 74984 households and total area of 500.67 km2. It has a large forest area named 'Madhupurer ...

. This led the

Bangladeshi government The Cabinet of Bangladesh ( bn, বাংলাদেশের মন্ত্রিসভা) is the chief executive body of the People's Republic of Bangladesh. The cabinet is the collective decision-making body of the entire government under ...

to change legislation so the doctor could be granted Bangladeshi citizenship ( in addition to his New Zealander citizenship) in recognition of Baker's "selfless service to the people of Bangladesh". He was subsequently interviewed by ''

Ityadi ''Ityadi'' ( bn, ইত্যাদি; en, "Et Cetera") is a popular magazine television programme in Bangladesh created and presented by Hanif Sanket that airs on Bangladesh Television. It is the longest running show on Bangladeshi television ...

''. Ill since 2011, Baker was diagnosed with incurable idiopathic pulmonary hypertension in 2014. He died at his Kailakuri Health Care Centre at 74 years old on 1 September 2015 at around 2:15pm. He was survived by his mother, two sisters, and four brothers—all in New Zealand. The doctor was buried on 8 September 2015 behind his house at Kailakuri.

Career

Baker received his

Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery ( la, Medicinae Baccalaureus, Baccalaureus Chirurgiae; abbreviated most commonly MBBS), is the primary medical degree awarded by medical schools in countries that follow the tradition of the United King ...

from University of Otago Dunedin School of Medicine in 1965. He then served with a government medical team in

Qui Nhon Quy Nhon ( vi, Quy Nhơn ) is a coastal city in Bình Định province in central Vietnam. It is composed of 16 wards and five communes with a total of . Quy Nhon is the capital of Bình Định province. As of 2019 its population was 457,400. Hi ...

and

Kon Tum Kon Tum is the capital city of Kon Tum Province in Vietnam. It is located inland in the Central Highlands region of Vietnam, near the borders of Laos and Cambodia. History After the People's Army of Vietnam invaded South Vietnam on March 30, 1 ...

, tending to civilian casualties of the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

. Baker's work in the war ended with four months in a North Vietnamese prison before that nation

deported Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. The term ''expulsion'' is often used as a synonym for deportation, though expulsion is more often used in the context of international law, while deportation ...

him. In 1975, he went to Australia and England to study

pediatrics Pediatrics ( also spelled ''paediatrics'' or ''pædiatrics'') is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, paediatrics covers many of their youth until th ...

. Driven by his Christianity, Baker moved to Bangladesh in 1979 because of its "really good" people and their inability to receive healthcare due to

poverty Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little income. Poverty can have diverse social, economic, and political causes and effects. When evaluating poverty in ...

. After working in Meherpur District and

Mirzapur Mirzapur () is a city in Uttar Pradesh, India, 827 km from Delhi and 733 km from Kolkata, almost 91 km from Prayagraj (formally known as Allahabad) and 61 km from Varanasi. It is known for its carpets and brassware industries, and the folk ...

, Baker established the Kailakuri Health Care Centre in

in 1983. The doctor was renowned for charging only 5– (equivalent to approximately –

United States dollar The United States dollar ( symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the officia ...

s in ) for

physical examination In a physical examination, medical examination, or clinical examination, a medical practitioner examines a patient for any possible medical signs or symptoms of a medical condition. It generally consists of a series of questions about the patien ...

s, and providing his patients with needed medicine whether they could pay or not. The clinic received donations from New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. For his devotion to the local

Bangladeshis Bangladeshis ( bn, বাংলাদেশী ) are the citizens of Bangladesh, a South Asian country centered on the transnational historical region of Bengal along the eponymous bay. Bangladeshi citizenship was formed in 1971, when the p ...

, they called Baker "Doctor Brother" ( bn, text=ডাক্তার ভাই, translit=Daktar Bhai). By 2011, Baker was ill and awaiting a physician to replace him; when he died in 2015, none had arrived.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Edric 1941 births 2015 deaths 20th-century New Zealand medical doctors 20th-century nobility 21st-century New Zealand medical doctors 21st-century nobility deaths from hypertension New Zealand emigrants to Bangladesh New Zealand Roman Catholics University of Otago alumni